In an ideal world, the musicians that perform in the Jazz on Wheels band every summer go into the classrooms of the underserved schools in the cooler seasons to share the richness of the jazz culture. They teach music—not even necessarily jazz, just music. They offer those kids some pathways toward musical communication, giving them an option to use the tools of the jazz musician to express their own lives and cultures.

In an ideal world, the kids from those schools find their way to our Summer Jazz Camp, and then to our university. Maybe they go to the jazz program, maybe they go into one of the other music streams, but they get there. And they excel.

In an ideal world, the Jazz on Wheels band is eventually made up of these kids. Maybe we’re talking 7 years from now, maybe 15 years from now, but in the future, Jazz on Wheels has a unique north prairie urban sound that can be found nowhere else but right here in the Jazz Capital of Canada.

That’s our dream. The university is dreaming with us to make it happen. We’re getting help from a lot of other important people along the way, labourers of love who are willing to take some chances and to sacrifice hours and talent for the enrichment of our precious community.

I have never been one to underestimate the value of a dream. It’s gonna happen.